Gold burst through the US$3,000 per ounce mark in March 2025 and continued to climb, with indications it could move even higher this year.
Investors now find themselves in a world where the yellow metal is frequently posting all-time highs above the eyebrow-raising US$3,000 price point.
But is gold now too expensive to be worth buying, or is a gold price above US$3,000 still a cheap price point given its future potential?
If you’re wondering if you should buy gold now, read on to learn what investment strategies experts recommend when the price of gold is above US$3,000.
Why is the gold price rising?
“In other words, the fear that would really ultimately motivate investors to get out of equities, to get out of other assets and buy gold,” Rhind explained. “Now the ‘fear premium’ is really starting to get baked in and investors are really, for the first time, beginning to worry about the return of their capital as opposed to the return on their capital. And that’s typically the time you see people the most motivated to buy gold.”
“After this tariff bazooka from Trump, we’re seeing some significant selloffs in the equities markets and we’re seeing unrest in the bonds market as well with the yields rising even on days when the equities were falling,’ Hansen said. ‘Basically not really creating a great deal of confidence for investors for where to park their money while we go through this period of turbulence.”
Outside of the fear premium, Will Rhind also points to another factor pushing investors out of other assets and into gold: global money supply. Rhind advises investors to consider the M2 Gold Ratio chart, which is the money supply divided by the price of gold for a given period.
“If you look at a chart that tracks the global money supply versus the price of gold, you’ll see that the two have really moved very much in concert with one another,” he said. “The bigger picture to me is this idea that the paper money supply keeps increasing against gold. It’s not necessarily about gold prices rising, it’s about the value of paper currencies keeps falling in relation to gold.”
Should I buy gold now at US$3,000?
Investors are often told to buy low and sell high, but the current situation is tricky. While gold has set many new highs in 2025, many market watchers believe its run has only gotten started.
Aaron emphasized that a signal of this magnitude has only occurred three other times in the past century: right before the Great Depression, in the late 1960s before the breakup of the Bretton Woods gold standard and in the early 2000s. Each of these periods resulted in a precious metals bull market.
“If you have no exposure to physical gold whatsoever, we’ve just seen this 45 year trend break in the Dow to gold ratio,” Aaron said. “That tells me gold is going to be outpacing conventional equities for anywhere from three to 10 years, with a mean cycle average of eight years.”
Whether or not investors new to gold decide to get in at this price level should depend on their tolerance for risk and investment style. Aaron acknowledges that there is clearly more risk associated with investing in gold at US$3,000 per ounce compared to when prices for the precious metal were trading at the US$2,000 level a year ago.
However, for those with a long-term investment strategy and no gold allocation in their portfolio, there’s no time like the present.
Most experts advise between 5 percent and 10 percent of your investment portfolio to commodities, including physical gold.
“You’re not buying it as an investment, hoping it goes up… you’re buying it as insurance, as portfolio protection,” Clark said.
How high will the gold price go in 2025?
GraniteShares CEO Will Rhind reiterated that the low M2 Gold ratio is flashing signals that the price of gold today, while historically high, might actually have much more room to grow.
‘In history, if the ratio is high, that means gold is overvalued, and when the ratio is low, that means gold is undervalued,” Rhine explained. “If you look at it now, we’re somewhere under the median with gold being closer to undervalued rather than overvalued at a time when we just talked about gold hitting a new all-time high.”
For his part, Saxo Bank’s Ole Hansen sees gold with a good chance to trade at US$3,300 per ounce for 2025. “Gold continues challenging record highs simply because we are in a very uncertain world right now,” he added.
Goldman Sachs has a more bullish forecast for gold prices in 2025 as recession fears sink in. Citing stronger demand for the precious metal from both central banks and exchange-traded funds, Reuters reported that on April 13 the firm raised its end of year 2025 gold price forecast from US$3,300 to US$3,700 per ounce, with a projected range of US$3,650 to U$3,950 per ounce.
Investor takeaway
As gold further solidifies above US$3,000 per ounce, it’s clear investors may need to adjust their ideas on what constitutes a high price for the precious metal.
With gold perhaps poised to move much higher, market participants will have to be ready to position themselves advantageously in the new paradigm.
Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
